USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 2 > Part 20
USA > New York > New York City > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 2 > Part 20
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
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REV. J. HYATT SMITH.
occasions Mr. Smith has preached to an audience entirely of young men-some fifteen hundred in number.
Mr. Smith is erect, and well-proportioned, with a head and face of considerable intellectuality. You see at once that he is a thinker, not less than a worker in whatever may interest him. He is a man who always feels deeply ; but he acts calmly, and with a decision and plans that are seldom changed. Of a strong religious nature, he is unswerving in the consistent practice of the duties which his faith and profession impose upon him; but on the other hand he will ac- cept not one word or doctrine which his own scholarship does not sustain. Hence we find him an actual reformer in his denomination, doing battle valiantly for the truth as he understands it. In preach- ing he is always full of his theme, and he speaks fervently and under- standingly. His record as a minister is brilliant in the extreme, and he seems on the threshold of a career which will make still larger demands upon his scholarly and ministerial talents.
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REV. WILLIAM A. SNIVELY, A. M., RECTOR OF GRACE (EPISCOPAL) CHURCH, BROOKLYN.
EV. WILLIAM A. SNIVELY, A. M., was born in Frank- lin county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1833. He was graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1852, and he concluded a theological course at the same institution in 1855. During the latter period he also dis- charged the duties of tutor. In 1855, at the close of his stud- ies, he entered the Methodist ministry as a member of the Baltimore Conference, and soon became distinguished for the earnestness and success of his labors. For nine years he was appointed to the lead- ing churches in Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg.
Circumstances, more than inclination, had led him into the ministry of the Methodist church, and he now determined to enter the Episcopal denomination and ministry, as best suited to his views and desires. Accordingly, in 1865, he was made a deacon in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, by Bishop William B. Stevens, and later in the same year, he was admitted to the priesthood by the same bishop. IIe was first the rector of St. Andrew's Church, Pitts- burg, and, in 1867, accepted a call to Christ Church, Cincinnati, where he remained three years. In 1870 he went to St. Peters, Albany, as the successor of the Rev. Dr. William C. Doane, who had been elected bishop of that diocese. Iiis next call was to his present rectorship, at Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, where he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Benjamin H. Paddock, who, in the previous year, had been elected bishop of the diocese of Massachusetts. It is somewhat singular that in two instances, Mr. Suively has suc- ceeded rectors who have been elected bishops. He was installed as the rector of Grace Church on Sunday, May 24th, 1874, on which occasion a sermon was preached by Bishop Littlejohn, of the diocese of Long Island.
Mr. Snively received the degree of A. B. in 1852, and A. M. in
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1855, both from his Alma Mater. In 1871 he was a delegate to the General Episcopal Convention, held at Baltimore, from the diocese of Albany.
Grace Church is a large and wealthy parish. The late distin- guished Rev. Dr. Francis L. Vinton, at his death in 1872, one of the assistant ministers of Trinity parish, New York, became the first rector in 1847. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. E. A. Hoffman in 1864, who remained several years, and was followed by the Rev. Dr. Paddock, who remained from May, 1869, until 1873. A spa- cious and tasteful stone church was crected, soon after the organiza- tion of the parish, on HIicks strect, Brooklyn Heights, the whole property costing over seventy-five thousand dollars. There are between four and five hundred communicants, and about two hun- dred families. The Sunday School has about two hundred children. A parish day school is maintained. In 1865 a new school home, adjoining the church, was erccted at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. The congregation is noted in the diocese for its liberal contributions for all religious and benevolent purposes. The offer- ings for parochial purposes, during a single year, were about twenty- one thousand dollars, and for diocesan purposes, over eight thousand, making in all over twenty-nine thousand dollars. In 1872 still larger offerings were made, amounting to over fifty-one thousand dollars.
Mr. Snively is of the average height, very erect, and walks with the solid tread of a man in the full vigor of health and activity. His head is large, his face handsome, with regular features, and fine expressive eyes. His face is calm and amiable, but it shows that decision, resolution, and energy are prominent characteristics of the individual. Frank, gentle, and trusting in all the mere personal qualifications, he is equally by nature bold, firm, and energetic in his labors and deeds. As you look at him-erect, noble, and un- flinching-you sec that he is one who loves, and is beloved, and also one who is powerful in antagonism, and omnipotent in effort. You see strength of the physical, of the mental, and of the moral ; and you see, likewise, tenderness, goodness, and simplicity, as strong parts of the same naturc.
HIe is an eloquent and convincing preacher. Emphatic in his mode of expression, he is learned in argument, devout in manner, and impassioned in utterance. He commands the attention of the hearer throughout, and at the close, leaves the mind employed with profitable thoughts, and the heart moved by penitential emotions.
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RIGHT REV. BISHOP HORATIO SOUTIIGATE, D. D., LATE RECTOR OF ZION EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. HORATIO SOUTHIGATE was born in the city of Portland, Me. He was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1832, and at Andover in 1835. Though brought up a strict Congregationalist, he became an Episcopalian while pursuing his theological studies at the latter institution. He was ordained deacon in 1835, and priest in 1839. During 1836 he went abroad, and traveled extensively in Turkey and Persia. Returning to the United States, he was consecrated in Philadelphia, Oct. 26th, 1844, missionary bishop to reside at Constantinople, and again took his departure for the East. This mission was primarily to send a delegate charged with messages of good will to the Oriental churches. After several years spent in the discharge of the duties of his mission and in travel, Dr. Southgate returned to the United States in 1849. He then founded the parish of St. Luke, in Portland, where he remained about a year; in 1852 went to the church of the Advent, Boston; and in 1859 was called to Zion Church, New York. He resigned this parish in 1872, after the efficient labors of thirteen years. Zion Church was formerly in Mott street, and the congrega- tion at an early period was Lutheran, but, by a change in the relig- ious views of both pastor and people, became an Episcopal church in 1810. In 1854 a very fine edifice was erected on the corner of Madison avenue and Thirty-eighth street, which is the crown of Murray Hill. Dr. Southgate received the degree of doctor of divinity from Columbia College, in 1846. IIe has published the following works: " Tours through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Messopo- tamia," two volumes. in 1840; "Visit to the Syrian Church of Messopotamia," one volume, in 1844; "Parochial Sermons," one volume, and " War in the East," one volume, in 1856. He has like- wise published various occasional sermons, and contributed largely to the religious reviews and journals. He speaks the Turkish, Ger-
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man, Italian, and French languages. The volume entitled " War in the East," is a masterly review of the questions involved in the Russian and Turkish war, defensive of the position of the former power. It was extensively circulated both in this country and Europe, and quoted in Parliament, by Earl Grey, as unanswerable.
Dr. Southgate is under the medium height, rather thick set and large boned. His head is large, with a square face and prominent features. His eyes are bright, quick, and penetrating, and at the same time like his whole expression, gentle and kindly. He is the exact impersonation of the honest, true-hearted, fair dealing-man. There is no circumlocution, no scheming, and no policy about him. His impulses are as surely and instantly toward honesty, truth, and justice, as the direction of the magnetic needle. This fact speaks out from every line of his countenance, and is breathed in every sentiment that he utters. His perceptions of character are the keen- est, but he turns to every man-be he saint or sinner, of spotless virtue or black with crime-the front of an honest face and a just nature. He is genial, cheerful, and has a happy power of communi- cating his own natural buoyancy of spirits to others. In the sick chamber, in the house of mourning, with the anxious inquirer, he exercises, in an eminent degree, that holy influence which merges grief and desolation into submission and faith.
Dr. Southgate is a hard worker in every sphere of duty. His reliance on a favoring Providence is complete, and he keeps onward when others check their steps in despair. No better qualified man could have been sent as a representative to the Oriental churches. He did not go to display the prejudices of sectarianism, but as an ambassador of good-will to all the Christian sects of the East. And thus, with the simple credentials of a Christian man, though a con- secrated bishop, he mingled in beneficial fellowship with Syrian, Romish, Greek, and Protestant. He was a Christian friend from afar, full of brotherly love, earnest in the common cause of Chris- tianity, and, personally, a genial, noble-hearted gentlemen. Hence we find him, in 1841, while on a visit to the Syrian patriarch, at his monastery on the confines of Messopotamia, solicited to afford assis- tance in a controversy regarding certain church property then pend- ing at Constantinople before the Porte. His mission was everywhere appreciated, and without for a moment exciting prejudice or sus- picion, he strengthened the bonds of the true Christianity, which is universal brotherhood. 532
REV. SAMUEL T. SPEAR, D. D.,
ONE OF THE EDITORS OF THE INDEPEN- DENT, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. SAMUEL T. SPEAR was born at Ballston Spa, New York, March 4th, 1812. He was graduated as a doctor of medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and studied theology with Rev. Dr. Beman, of Troy. He was ordained as a Presbyterian min- ister in 1835, and settled during the same year as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Lansingburg. In 1843 he accepted a call to the South Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, where he re- mained about twenty-seven years. During the time he declined a call to one of the leading Presbyterian churches of Albany ; but recently accepted an invitation to become one of the editors of the Independent, a well known religious paper of New York. He had been a constant contributor to the paper, from its commencement. All his writings are thoughtful and valuable. His degree of D. D. was conferred by Union College, Schenectady.
He has published a bound volume, entitled "Family Power," and the following sermons : "The Drunkard's Appetite," " Law and Temperance," "Politico-social Foundations," "Law-abiding and Higher-law Conscience," "Conquest of the World by Faith," " The Law of Grace," "Christ in the Believer," " Religious Conversation," " The Future of Christianity," " Radicalism and the National Crisis," " The Future Life Suggested," " The Wonder of Man's Constitution," "Obedience to Civil Authority," "Constitutional Government Against Treason," "The Retributive Power of Memory," "The Divine Incarnation," " Man Mortal and Transient," "The Nation's Blessing in Trial," "The Duty of the Hour," " Christian Democracy," and " Preaching the Gospel." He is the author of the following re- views and essays, which have appeared in the Biblical Repository ; " Review of Edwards on Liberty and Necessity," " Review of Bush on the Resurrection," "Review of Cheeseman's Differences," "The 533
REV. SAMUEL T. SPEAR, D. D.
Rejection of Christ by the Jews," " The Death of Christ," "The Atonement and Penalty of the Law."
Dr. Spear is under the medium height, having a small but com- pact frame. He is an old-fashioned looking person, whose clothes never seem to fit him. He walks with a firm, deliberate step, carry- ing his head erect, and has a bland expression of face. His head is of the round apple-like kind, but his brow is finely developed, and he has bright, speaking eyes. While he is courteous in his manners and affable in conversation, still there is a measure of reserve about him. He never for a moment lays aside his clerical character, and in all his social life exhibits much seriousness and reflection. No one can doubt his eminent piety, his earnest desire to be practically useful in his sphere, and his conscientiousness of word and deed. Al. ways calm, thoughtful, and wise, he is a safe guide to all who seek his counsel, and he is ever found changeless in principle and faithful to duty. His mind is deeply philosophical. He is a reader of large research, and altogether a most laborious student. IIe abominates superficiality in anything, and hence his own investigations are of the most thorough nature. In his writings, so careful and precise is he, that he sometimes grows tedious, and he is always thus in his sermons to those who delight in imagination and declamation. IIe writes and speaks with occcasional bursts of emotion, but he is mostly argumentative and unimpassioned. Doctrinal subjects, and themes requiring the wider scope of reasoning, are favorites with him. His student hours are passed in much seclusion, and with en- tire abandonment of mind to the matter under investigation. His process of thought is slow, and from this fact probably the more logical.
Dr. Spear is not, however, a man to move the masses as a preacher. In the course of long years he trains a congregation to his own way and mode of thinking, and he draws about him circles of methodical reasoners like himself, but he never reaches the popular heart. He is too cold, too logically dry, and too philosophically tedious, to touch the chords of sympathetic feeling, and at the same time all of these aid him in establishing the most positive conviction with the cold, logical, and philosophical few. With those who are attached to his style of thought, his sermons are regarded as the consumma- tion of brilliant scholarship and mental power.
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Gardina Sprung
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REV. GARDINER SPRING, D. D., LL. D.,
PASTOR OF BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHI, FIFTII AVENUE, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. GARDINER SPRING has been the pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, for the long period of sixty-three years. The time for active service with him has now passed ; but he still retains his cher- ished pastoral relations with his people, having an assistant.
Dr. Spring is the only son of Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, who was a chaplain in the American army during the Revolution, and a theologian of great influence and weight of character. He graduated at Yale College in 1805, and subsequently commenced the study of the law. He next went to the island of Bermuda, as a teacher, where he remained nearly two years, continuing his legal studies, however. After his return he was admitted to the bar, and prac. ticed more than a year. ITis attention had been long turned to reli- gious subjects, and he now began to prepare himself for the ministry. He studied about eight months at Andover Seminary. On the 10th of August, 1810, he was ordained pastor of the Brick Church, and has remained such up to the present time.
The Brick Church formerly occupied the triangular lot of ground bounded by Nassau and Beekman streets and Park Row, now the site of the Times and other buildings. This lot was obtained from the corporation by the Wall street Presbyterian Congregation-the first organization of the sect in New York-and a church erected upon it, which was dedicated in January, 1768. During the Revolution the building was used by the British as a prison and hospital for prisoners of war. The church was re-opened in June, 1784. Various other leading Presbyterian Congregations of the city grew out of the First and Brick Churches. At a later period a separation of these churches was effected by mutual consent.
The property was sold by the congregation after long occupancy for a large sum, and a purchase made of lots on the corner of Fifth 535
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REV. GARDINER SPRING, D. D., LL. D.
avenue and 37th street, where one of the most magnificent and spa- cious church edifices of the city was erected. The congregation is large and very wealthy. Rev. Dr. J. O. Murray is the assistant minister.
Dr. Spring has successively declined the presidency of Hamilton and Dartmouth Colleges. Among his public books may be men- tioned "Memoirs of Rev. J. Mills," " Memoirs of Hannah L. Mur- ray," "The Mercy Seat," "First Things," "The Glory of Christ," "Contrast between Good and Bad Men," collections of his sermons, etc., etc.
Dr. Spring is tall and broad-shouldered, and even in his old age is perfectly erect. He is now feeble, and his sight is much im- paired, but his presence is commanding and dignified to the highest degree. He has a large, intellectual head, and a most benevolent countenance. His manners have always had the characteristics of a high-toned polish and courtliness combined with marked geniality and the utmost gentleness.
We wrote the following description of Dr. Spring at the period when he was approaching the close of his active ministry :
" But observe : a tall, broad-shouldered old man enters the pulpit. He is feeble, and his sight is impaired ; but he stands erect and tower- ing in stature. His face is kind in its expression, and his bold brow is the throne of intellect. In prayer his eyes are closed, his head elevated, and in the strength of his feelings he raises yet more his tall form, and lifts his hands on high, as if he would lay hold of God's throne then and there. With his people he stands a saint before them ; these old men he baptized, these women he married, and to-day he performs the same offices for new generations. As he speaks in tones earnest but mellow, every feeling of the worshipers sink away into the devotion to which his language invites them. The world without, and even the memory of the music, which a few moments before was floating so impressively, each and all have faded into; visions painted in prayer. Age is surely doing its work with the pas- tor. The light of day is growing into dimness, the step is becoming more and more feeble; and yet, this little span of remaining life, this tottering man is the very footstool of God, where age and youth, where beauty and deformity approach with their offerings of faith. When this span shall have been completed-when he falls, overcome by the weight of years, there will be no voice like his forever.
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REV. GARDINER SPRING, D. D., LL. D.
" Dr. Spring is a learned man, and a rare expounder of the Scrip- tures. The arrangement of his sermons is logical in the extreme, and belonging, as he does, to the old order of preachers, they are generally of a doctrinal character. His language is well chosen, vig- orous, and at times glowing and eloquent. His magnificent physical proportions give great effect to his utterances, accompanied as they are by well-studied gestures. He is of the old school branch of his church, and the opponent of all heresies, as well as any deviation in whatsoever form from the ancient doctrines and practices of the Presbyterian Church. In regard to doctrine, he does not think that there is any argument at all for the other champions. The only reason why he doubts the efficiency of intelligence is that it does not make all men Presbyterians; but if any person is disposed to raise issues with him, his eye kindles, he warms up, and affords an amount of logieal lore which may well embarrass the most learned.
" He is a close student of human nature, and from this fact has come much of his success in the ministry. He measures the mind, gauges the temperament, and weighs the character of all with whom he comes in contact, and successfully uses a happy adaptability to persons and circumstances which he can readily exercise. He is not the same man to the old that he is to the young, nor is he as stern and fixed with the merely giddy as he is with the unmistakably bad. But in all his moods, he seeks to gain control of the mind of the individual, and he is well aware that the means of so doing must be adapted to the case; henee, those who resist his influence are eventually drawn by it, and by a means so adroit that resistance changes unconsciously into submission.
" Rising at the close of his sermon to a loftier flight of eloquence, speaking in the tones of persuasion, and under the solemn obliga- tions of duty, his voice grows louder and rieher, and seems to many before him truly the flickering candle burning up brighter before it shall go out at last. Every eye is riveted upon him ; every ear intently listens ; every heart is moved with love. Grandly, thril- lingly he glides from sentence to sentence, and when he ceases there is a stillness everywhere save in the hearts of his hearers, where his words are sweeping like music from above.
" The grand organ swells again, and the choral strains join in the sacred harmony, and then comes the touching blessing of the gray- haired shepherd. The elders-so prim, so genteel, so distinguished -take their hats, the silks rustle once more, the aisles overflow,
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REV. GARDINER SPRING, D. D., LL. D.
friends nod, and the concourse of favored Christians descend to their carriages, or slowly pace their way to their palatial homes. Last of the throng leaving the church, notice the pastor; he is still erect in carriage, his face is uplifted, and about it play the smiles of a peaceful soul within.
"The sum of the usefulness of this eminent and godly man can only be calculated when the Master shall take the final account. But among his fellow-men, his long life is esteemed a brilliant example for all seeking honor here and rest hereafter."
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REV. RICHARD S. STORRS, D. D.,
PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS, BROOKLYN.
EV. DR. RICHARD S. STORRS, was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, August 21st, 1821. He was graduated at Amherst College in 1839, and completed his studies at Andover Theological Seminary in 1845. At the outset of his career he gave brilliant promise of his future greatness. His mind, and indeed his whole character, were of a stamp which proved him to be a man who was to make his mark in the intellectual world. In 1845 he accepted a call to the Harvard Congregational Church at Brookline, Massachusetts, but in the year following was called to the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, New York.
This church was the pioneer of the Congregational churches of Brooklyn. The natives of New England, who sought that place in such large numbers, brought Congregationalism with them, and soon gave complexion to the moral and religious character of the beauti- ful city in which they took up their residence. The first evidence of their religious zeal was the erection on the Heights of an impos- ing stone church edifice, exceeding at the time every other structure of the kind in Brooklyn.
In the front wall of the Church may be seen a piece of the verit- able Plymouth Rock.
Dr. Storrs was called, and the New Englanders found not only an altar affording their own popular form of worship, but a pastor of the most commanding talents. He drew about him a large, wealthy, and intelligent congregation, and has now been their accepted pastor for twenty-seven years.
A few years since the interior of the Church was magnificently improved, making it a rare specimen of artistic taste and beauty Dr. Storrs has recently returned from an extensive tour in Europe
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REV. RICHARD S. STORRS, D. D.
His congregation extended to him a public reception, which was marked by great warmth of feeling.
Dr. Storrs is not without reputation in the walks of literature. When the Independent was started, in 1848, he became one of the associate editors, and his articles were characterized by a polish of diction and comprehensiveness of expression which are peculiarities of his style. He has also published a number of sermons, orations, and addresses, a very elaborate report of the revision of the English version of the Bible, undertaken by the American Bible Society, and. a volume of "Graham's Lectures on the Wisdom, Power, and Good- ness of God, as Manifested in the Constitution of the Human Soul," etc., etc.
His mind is one of large comprehension, and his studies arc dili- gent, so that he becomes a thorough master of every subject with which he deals. He writes with evident care, and in the well-select- ed terms of a highly cultivated literary tas e. He has been success- ful as an editor, and discusses the occurring religious and secular topics with readiness and skill. In his sermons he is scholarly and eloquent. As compositions they are replete with merit, and many of them should be classed as magnificent orations. The historical and other facts are introduced in a most pleasing and interesting form, and where he indulges in fancy it is not only truly poetic, but both original and sensible.
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